That’s right BING, don’t pay attention to Google, just focus on improving yourself, your tools, your products, and search results for your customers while Google commits suicide. Within 3 years BING and Google will be much closer to market share and within 5 years BING may even take over if they do things right. How can this happen in such a short time? Because Google is going to kill itself by abusing and taking advantage of their customers privacy and Google users are going to slowly migrate to BING and others products/services because of it.

If you are a user of multiple Google products you may know what I am talking about, if not, you soon will. Google is slowly forcing its users to combine all of their products under one account. If this does not scare you, it should. I use several Google products: Google Affiliate Network, Adwords, Adsense, Gmail, Financial Portfolio, and Calendar. I get emails from Google reps stating that they went into my Adwords account and then they email me recommendations. I understand the Adwords account is actually Google’s, but I still feel they should ask before going into my Adwords account. I really do feel my privacy has been violated when they do this. When all of my Google products and services are under one umbrella, this dramatically changes things. You may say that I am blowing this out of proportion, but let’s put all of these products under a single Google Account. Google employee’s most likely can now log in and see not only my Adwords account, but my financial portfolio (my assets, stocks, bonds, banks, etc…), see my calendar (where I am, what I do, etc viagra tablets in india..), see my “private” emails, and more.

When I emailed Google explaining my concern with this, their reply was to create new separate Google Accounts for every one of the products I use. Why? Why can’t they simply keep things as they are and allow their customers to combine the accounts if they want to and not make it mandatory? Here is the text from the Google Affiliate website http://www.connectcommerce.com/global/login.html

We’re requiring all Google Affiliate Network users to update to Google Accounts so you can access all your Google products with a single sign-on.
• Use the same sign-in for Google Affiliate Network and other Google products, including AdWords, AdSense, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Personalized Search, and much more.
• Switch among Google Affiliate Network and other Google applications without having to sign in again.
Keep in mind that once you’ve updated your Account, you’ll no longer be able to use your old Google Affiliate Network username and password.

I am definitely not stating that all Google employees are deceitful, however if they are aware of an affiliate or Adwords account that is generating large sums of money, like Jeremy Shoemaker’s was http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/07/shoemoney-sues-google-employee-for-adwords-violations/ it would be very hard not to use that information for their own gain. Again, I am sure this is a rare case, but it does happen. Adding my calendar and email just adds to my concerns.

If BING continues to improve their search technologies and products they will continue to take market share http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090819-123636 . It may take 10 years or more, but I think it will eventually happen. However, if Google continues to take their customer’s privacy concerns lightly, I am predicting BING will become a much larger threat to Google in half that time mainly due to Google’s own actions.

28 Responses to “The One Company That Can Actually Bring Down Google Is… Google”

I agree. The Google login proccess has always been a thorn in my side. I’ve been locked out of a AdSense account and recently been unable to move my Google certification from one MCC to another (that Google was unable to remove invoicing from). While they add more and more great services such as Google voice, they are still making a number of missteps in other areas.

Dez,
“is that this move is a hacker’s (or cracker’s) delight”
That can be an entirely different article on the security implications of combining all of these accounts. I am sure this breach will eventually happen.

A few people asked me if I was worried if Google would be upset over the article. I think they can take it two ways:
1. Old School- Get upset, write me a nasty letter, post negative things about me, etc… or
2. New School- Take complaints as gifts and listen to it’s users. Taking it’s users concerns and adjusting policies accordingly may help Google continue their #1 status.